System appears to be stuck in Rendering Mode. (Linux Mint 18.3, 64 bit, Cinnamon)

[Liam]

Hi,

I appear to have an issue with running Linux Mint 18.3, 64 bit with Cinnamon. This is my first linux distro installation on a new machine and I am dual booting with windows 10.

The system behaves fine for the most part, however I always receive this warning in the top right hand corner upon start up:

"Running in Software Rendering mode"

When looking it up, it appears to be very common for virtual machines. However, I am dual booting my system and am therefore at a loss as to how to remedy the issue. It seems to be related to graphical drivers.

Though my system does not appear to be experience any ill effects besides being a fairly slow and having reduced graphical quality, I am concerned with the strain that the CPU may be under.

As per another user's suggestion (viewtopic.php?f=49&t=261203&p=1411206&h ... e#p1411206), I have tried updating the drivers, software and kernel to the latest stable versions, but to no avail (I have not updated X.org for the risks mentioned in the link above).

I only require linux to run very basic code and to ssh into my work directory. Hence I can be flexible with regards to the distro / desktop environment I am using. If anyone has had experience with this sort of thing and can recommend a fix (or at least a good work-around), I would much appreciate it.

I am using integrated (motherboard) graphics: ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Processor: Intel® Core™i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache

Many Thanks in advance!

[jimallyn]

You need to install the Guest Additions to enable 3D video acceleration, which Cinnamon requires for any kind of decent performance. Start the virtual machine, and you should see in the menu bar at the top of the window, "Devices." Click that, then click insert guest additions CD, which will put the "CD" on your desktop. Double click it, and it will install the Guest Additions. That might not be exactly right, I'm doing this from memory, but that's close enough to get you there.

[Liam]

Sorry I wasn't clear on this. I'm trying to dual boot mint with windows, not access it through a VM.

However, if you think that using a VM would do the trick, let me know and I can give it a go.

[Hoser Rob]

Sorry I wasn't clear on this. I'm trying to dual boot mint with windows, not access it through a VM.

However, if you think that using a VM would do the trick, let me know and I can give it a go.

If you aren't getting 3D accelerated video without using a VM, a VM isn't going to help matters. It sounds like an underlying support issue.

You need to generate morte useful system info ... copy/paste this to the terminal and copy/paste the text output here ...

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

[Liam]

Thanks for getting back to me.

Here you go:

Code: Select all

System:    Host: limi-PRIME-Z370-P Kernel: 4.13.0-21-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: PC Specialist product: PRIME Z370-P
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: PRIME Z370-P v: Rev X.0x
           Bios: American Megatrends v: 0430 date: 11/01/2017
CPU:       Hexa core Intel Core i5-8400 (-MCP-) cache: 9216 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 33696
           clock speeds: max: 4000 MHz 1: 2800 MHz 2: 2800 MHz 3: 2800 MHz
           4: 2800 MHz 5: 2800 MHz 6: 2800 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 3e92 bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: fbdev,intel (unloaded: vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@76.00hz
           GLX Renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 5.0, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.4 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel Device a2f0 driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1f.3
           Card-2 Dell driver: USB Audio usb-ID: 001-004
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.13.0-21-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e000 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: enp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Ralink RT5392 PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
           driver: rt2800pci v: 2.3.0 bus-ID: 04:00.0
           IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (0.7% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST2000DM006 size: 2000.4GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 19G used: 6.8G (40%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda5
           ID-2: /home size: 848G used: 238M (1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 6.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda6
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 207 Uptime: 10 min Memory: 1034.2/3817.4MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

Also, I did some of my own research and apparently the integrated graphics accelerator of my motherboard (Intel's "Coffee Lake") may not be supported yet by Linux's latest Kernel. However, a Kernel with such graphics support (4.15) is expected to be released at the end of this month. I wonder if this could be the problem?

In that case, it may just be a matter of waiting for this new Kernel to be available. The article below gave me this impression:

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... L-No-Alpha

Let me know what you think.

Thanks again.

[bigjoesoft]

I got the same problem even with installed Guest Additions and enabled 3D video acceleration on VirtualBox Version 5.2.4 r119785 (Qt5.6.2)

Code: Select all

System:    Host: JWo-Mint-18 Kernel: 4.10.0-38-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   System: innotek (portable) product: VirtualBox v: 1.2
           Mobo: Oracle model: VirtualBox v: 1.2
           Bios: innotek v: VirtualBox date: 12/01/2006
CPU:       Single core Intel Core i7-3740QM (-UP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3) bmips: 5383 speed: 2691 MHz (max)
Graphics:  Card: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: vboxvideo (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1680x946@59.97hz
           GLX Renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 5.0, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.4 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801AA AC'97 Audio Controller
           driver: snd_intel8x0 ports: d100 d200 bus-ID: 00:05.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.10.0-38-generic
Network:   Card: Intel 82540EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: e1000 v: 7.3.21-k8-NAPI port: d010 bus-ID: 00:03.0
           IF: enp0s3 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 26.8GB (33.2% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: VBOX_HARDDISK size: 26.8GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 23G used: 6.3G (31%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
           ID-2: /boot size: 472M used: 130M (29%) fs: ext2 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 2.14GB used: 0.01GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 171 Uptime: 5:38 Memory: 1320.4/1998.0MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

Thanks for your attention.

[Pjotr]

@Liam: try this:

1. Disable all visual effects in Cinnamon:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... n-Cinnamon
(item 7.1, right column)

2. Do a driver switch:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... l-graphics
(item 6, left column)

3. Reboot.

4. Launch Update Manager and install the latest kernel of the 4.13 series (currently 4.13.0-26). This should be offerend to you as a level 4 update.

5. Reboot.

[Liam]

Thanks for tying Pjotr,

Unfortunately what you suggested didn't seem to work either.

Interestingly, my driver says fbdev now instead of fbdev,intel. So the driver switch has removed the outdated intel driver, but I'm not getting the expected modesetting driver as expected:

Code: Select all

[Graphics:  Card: Intel Device 3e92
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: vesa)
           Resolution: 1024x768@76.00hz
           GLX Renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 5.0, 256 bits)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.4
/code] 

Do you have any other suggestions?

[patachou]

HI,

Had exactly the same issue, till I found out that it is related to the kernel. Try to install a 4.15 kernel and the problem will be resolved. I used the little tool Ukuu (Ubuntu kernel updater). Sits in the Mint Software manager and works like a charm.

See below:

patachou@Coffee ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System: Host: Coffee Kernel: 4.15.9-041509-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 7.2.0)
Desktop: Cinnamon 3.6.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine: System: Gigabyte product: Z370N WIFI v: Default string
Mobo: Gigabyte model: Z370N WIFI-CF v: x.x
Bios: American Megatrends v: F2 date: 11/09/2017
CPU: Hexa core Intel Core i5-8400 (-MCP-) cache: 9216 KB
flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 33696
clock speeds: max: 4000 MHz 1: 3988 MHz 2: 3848 MHz 3: 3843 MHz
4: 3843 MHz 5: 3908 MHz 6: 3886 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Device 3e92 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Display Server: X.Org 1.19.5 driver: N/A
Resolution: 3840x2160@30.00hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (Coffeelake 3x8 GT2)
GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 17.2.8 Direct Rendering: Yes